Mario Kart Fusion
Mario Kart Fusion (Mario Kart 9 'in PAL regions) is the 9th Mario Kart installment and the first produced by Fritez Franchise. It is the succsessor of Mario Kart: Double Dash expanding on it's double dash feature. Such elements to expand it include chemistry, road-skiing and ground pounding. The main gimmick tied into racing is now time travelling that allows players to travel into the future and past of each track in a certain section with the help of a Time Line. It also introduces a titiluar fusion feature that allows players to fuse together items. The game is developed for the Wii U. Gameplay 'Basics Overview Mario Kart Fusion is alike past Mario Kart installents. 10 Players or CPU controlled racers must race three laps around a race course and the player in 1st place by the end wins. There are also items that can be obatined throughout via an item box. Mario Kart Fusion also returns Double Dash's partner feature which makes it so the player in first is able to drive while the character in the back can throw items. One player can control both characters at once or another player can control the back character. When a second player is controlling the behind character, It opens up more options for them such as Road Tethering. Both characters can hold an item but only the 2nd player can use items, meaning the front player must pass it back to them. Special items also return and are items exclusive to each character duo. They're normally very rare and have powerful effects The gliding mechanic also returns but this time however, the player doesn't have to touch a special ramp, instead they can use it anytime as long as they're going fast enough, and winds coming from seemingly nowhere push the player away if they go in out of bounds areas where glitches could occour. 'New Features' Time Travel Time Travel is the main new feature of the game, as Gliding and Sea Diving was Mario Kart 7's and Anti-Gravity was Mario Kart 8's. To Time Travel, the player must pass through a thick, mysterious line called a Time Line. However, in what direction the player will Time Travel, past or future depends on what side of the Time Line they pass through. The left side, marked in red is the past and the right side marked in blue leads to the future. So if the player goes through the red side they'll enter a past version of the track and the blue will lead them to a future version of the track. Each time is different as both have thier advantages and disadvantages depending on the track. Players may also need to consider what time to enter as somtimes one is superior to the other on some tracks. For example, Mario Circuit doesn't have a beanstalk in the past beacuse it hasn't been planted yet but does have a patch of dirt that can be used to drill in instead, while the future has a beanstalk that lets players zip-line on. Structures exclusive to the past when the player is in the future are shown as hollow outlines and vice versa in the past. Opponents not in the player's time are shown as shilloettes made of pure energy the same color that represents the time thier in. If two racers who are currently in different times touch, they become staticy and teleport forward a small distance at lightning speed. This is called a Time Jump and is very similar the the Spin Dash in Mario Kart 8. Players also time jump if they run into an item from the opposite time, but items from the time the player is in are harmful. To exit back into the present, the player must enter a timeline (which can include the one they came inside). It doesn't matter which side they enter as the whole line is colorated purple if the player is in the present or past. When the player exits into the present all timelines will revert back to thier half red half blue versions that warp the player to the past or future This feature is highly promoted in trailers, posters and the official site. Drilling Drilling is a feature that was scrapped from in trade for the anti-gravity feature. When the player drills in dirt, they enter the underground of the course and are contstantly propelled forward until they emerge from the ground. Any objects, obstacles or terrain can be seen while burrowing, but they can only be seen as shilloettes. The racers can also harm eachother by drilling at opponents from behind. Many harder objects can be drilled through as well but they take more time to drill throgh than dirt and other sediment. Also characters don't leave behind tunnels when they drill. Zip Gliding Zip Gliding is also a new feature although it is more minor of a change. When the player goes near some kind of rope or strand, they are attach thier kart to zip along it. While zip lining, the player can swing thier Kart to the left or right and let go of the zip line at anytime. There will also be obstacles along some ziplines to dodge by swinging out of thier way, players may also need to swing and let go to latch onto other zip lines too. When items are used while zip gliding that act as ammunition or a trap to place down, they are thrown along the zipline and placed on the sip-line insted of falling. Also, there are special types of ziplines called anti-gravity zip lines where the player can move all the way around the zip line and not fall, they can even position themselfs at the top of the zip line and they wont swing back down to the bottom. Sub Rings The water mechanic also returns and now there is a special gate called a Sub Ring that transforms the player's wheels into propellers before entering water, which allows them to move up, down, left or right freely instead of sinking to the bottom. The player can also hop out of the water like a dolphin and preform tricks. Some water sections dont have Sub Rings. Star Bits Star Bits return from the Super Mario Galaxy series as a collectible item along with coins. Unlike coins, not just 10 can be held at a time but 100. Star Bits warp over to a player when they touch them or the player (perferrably a second player) can collect them by touching them on the gamepad. Also alike the Super Mario Galaxy series, they can be shot anywhere but they have not effect on items besides simply nudging them out of the way. Star Bits cannot effect other players either as a shot star bit will simply be pulled in and collected if it gets too close to another racer. The main point of Star Bits is to shoot them at Hungry Lumas which will eat the Star Bits and if enough are eaten, they will transform into helpful objects. Different Hungry Lumas will transform into different things depending on thier colors. Star Bits can also be shot at small, unnamed golden panels which will turn into a coin after being shot. Charms Charms are a new feature that can be applied during the character selection. The player must equip both characters with a charm. At first, there are only 6 charms to choose from but many more can be obtained throughout the game. Charms only take effect when the player finishes a lap and then the character in the back will activate thier equipped Charm. For example if the charm is a Gravity Charm, the kart will get heavier everytime they finish a lap while a Moon Charm will make the kart lighter with each lap.There are also some charms that don't boost stats but do other things such as the Item Charm which gives the player an item or a Boost Charm gives the player a boost. Sphereical Gravity More of a lesser change, but some tracks or even pears of tracks are sphereical planetoids that have gravity similar to a planet. For example, GBA Cheese Land has been reinvented to take this shape as well as other nitro and retro tracks. 'Double Dash Features' Character Chemistry The chemisty feature makes character choice even more important. If the two characters like eachother in some way, special items will appear more often, nothing is changed if both characters are neutral to eachother and special items won't occour as often if two characters have poor chemistry. Kart Chemistry Kart Chemistry is another new element that effects the current driver. If the driver in front is driving thier signiture kart all of thier kart's stats will raise by 10%. If a character is driving the kart of a character they have good chemistry with then all thier kart's stats will raise by 5%. However, if a character with bad chemistry to the kart representing a certain character, drives in the front, all stats will be lowerd by 5%. Note that if a character with good chemistry to their kart is partnered up with a bad chemistry partner, thier stats don't lower as long as only the good chemistry character is driving and the bad chemistry character is in the back. Thethering Tethering is a new element that can only be used if there is a second racer riding on another player's kart. It allows the second player to detach from thier kart and obtain a strange hoverboard. The second racer will be able to stray behind the driver using some kind of thether. They will also be able to do more such as move left and right and collect coins and items for the player. Items can also be collected and even used by the second player. The camera also tilts upward for a more comfortable view of both characters. Ground Pounding The Ground Pound is a new feature that characters can do at anytime. When done, it causes thier kart to slow down and rattle and thus bumping ofther karts touching the player away. But, if both players ground pound at the same time they are rewarded with a shockwave that surrouns them and knocks away items and players as long as they're on the ground. Ground pounding slows the player down everytime it's done, so it is advised to use it wisely. Ground Pounding can also be used to alter the track or hit special track parts marked with a star like icon. 'Fusion Elements' Creating Charms Players can buy specal orbs called Star Orbs in the shop. These orbs have objects inside and contain many objects from past mario games. Each Star Orb costd one coin to insert in the capsule machine to get one, however, the player will get a random Star Orb if they use the machine. However, they can also buy one maunully by choice for 5 coins, but only from a selection of Star Orbs they've already gotten from the orb machine. The purpose of these orbs is to create charms in a Mode called the Observetory. To create a charm, the player must select two star orbs to launch into a starry sky, when both vanish into the sky, a constellation is created of the charm the two Star Orbs made. The player recives that charm and they cannot get the orbs back as they are of one time use. Certain orbs make different things, for example two Mushroom Orbs could make a mushroom charm or a feather and mushroom orb could make a flight charm. Other orb combinations however, cannot make a charm and will result in gaining one coin, Fusion Items If both characters are holding an item, they can fuse them both together which creates a new item called a Fusion Item. This item is obviously a combination of these two items and thus has traits from both of them. All Fusion Items improve upon thier original components while keeping the same effects. Fusion items cannot be stolen or dropped due to them transforming into digital waste and dissappering. While holding a Fusion item, another item cannot be obtained. 'Gamepad Elements' Tricks To do tricks, the player must slide thier stylist along the gamepad. Tricks alike in previous games can only be used in air and when the player lands, they obtain a speed boost. The player in the back of the kart will always preform the tricks instead of the player. However, the player can now chain tricks in a row and if more tricks are chained than the player will gain a bigger speed boost when they land. The speed of this boost depends on how many tricks were done and what tricks were done, some tricks will give the player more of a boost than others, but the more benafitial tricks take longer to do or are harder to preform. The player can also mess up tricks if they time them wrongly. Modes Grand Prix Alike most installments, Grand Prix is a returning mode and it remains the same from most games. It is the main mode and one of the only ones where the player can unlock karts and characters.The player can choose from three different difficulties, 50cc 100cc 'and '''150'cc. The n the player must choose thier characters and equip each with a charm just like they do before a race. Finally, they pick a cup to race on it's four courses. Every time the player finishes a race, they're awarded a certain amount of points based on what place they got. Whoever has the most points at the end, wins a golden trophy while the 2nd wins a silver and a 3rd wins a bronze. The player starts out with only the Mushroom and Coin cups and must unlock more by winning a cup. If the player gets gold trophies in all cups and difficulties, they unlock the '''Mirror Mode which reverses all tracks. Time Trial In Time Trial, the player can race on any course they've unlocked without other racers and two mushroom items. The main goal of time trial is to beat the staff's time in each course, if the player does this on a course, that course will get an alternate skin that will mainly change the course to a nightime or daytime course depending on what time the course was already in. VS Race A VS Race '''is a simple race the player can adjust the rules to. The player can adjust the number of laps, turn on/off any items, turn on/off charms, remove obstcles from courses, set how many players and CPUs are playing ect. Nothing can be unlocked in this mode as it is mainly for fun. Special Race A '''Special Race '''is similar to a VS race in the fact that the player can't unlock anything, but instead of playing a normal race with adjusted rules, the player can pick one of five diverse races that are so different that the player can't adjust much any of the rules. These races have the exact same objective, but with different mechanics tied in. For example Cannon Race replaces items with ammunition and allows the 2nd player to aim and fire a cannon, but the goal is still the same which is to complete 3 laps. Most of these Special Races are based off of games in Battle Mode. Battle '''Battle Mode is a mode that is about the same from past game. The rules depend on what game the player picks, there are 6 different battle games each with different rules and objectives. The biggest change from most modes is the fact that the battles take place on small arenas instead of racetracks that have no specific goal or end, meaning trying to obtain speed is in most cases useless. Missions Shop In the Shop the player can buy certain characters in the form of figurines that transform into real objects with coins they've collected throughout the game. Coins collected in battle, vs and special race don't count. However, there is a trick to buying items, each item is displayed on a scale and it's price isn't given, the player must guess it's price by putting coins on the other scale. If the coins weigh the same as the object, it's price has been paid and the player is awarded with the item or character. The player doesn't have to be exact however, they can be about 4 coins off, but some items have to be exact, mainly the rarer ones. Observatory In the Observatory, a sinlge player can fuse thier Star Orbs together to create Charms. Somtimes these orb combos fail and give the player a coin. The player can also veiw, orginize and check what various orbs do. Battle Modes Balloon Battle '''remains similar to previous installments where players are given three balloons and fight eachother with items. If the player is hit with an item, they lose a balloon. When all thier balloons have popped, they turn into a ghost and are still considerd out but can still do everything they could in thier previous form except win. The last racer with at least one balloon wins. In '''Coin Collectors, Coins are scatterd throughout the battlefield and players are tasked to collect them withinin a time limit. Getting hit by an item makes the player drop half of thier coins. There are also red and blue coins which give out 2 and 5 coins respectively. When time runs out, players are ranked based on how many coins they won and whoever has the most in the end wins. Cannon Blast Cannon Blast '''modifies player's karts to have a cannon on the backseat. Players attempt to win points by shooting eachother with these cannons within a time limit. All players start out with 10 points and win a point if they shoot another player, but lose points when they are shot. All items are replaced with ammunition and the player can have both characters holding 5 ammuntion at a time. If two players are contributing to one kart, the player in the back can even aim the cannon. When time runs out, players are ranked based on how many points they won and whoever has the most in the end wins. Energy Runners In '''Energy Runners players now have a gas tank mechanic that constantly depletes, if the player's gas tank fully depletes than that player is out, but can still do everything they could in thier previous form as a ghost except win. Many oil cans are scatterd throughout the battle course and if the player is hit they spill some of thier oil in which makes an oil puddle obstacle. An oil can is now an item the player can get as well. The last one still with energy wins. Ztar Curse '''is much like Shine Thief, another battle mode. In the beginning, a Ztar floats around and chases the players and whoever touches the ztar is given the Ztar Curse. This curse can be passed on to another player by bumping into them or hitting a player with an item. After 15 seconds have gone by, the player with the Ztar is out. While a player is out, they get a top view of the battle and can fire stunning Dark Starbits at players. The Ztar contiunes eliminating players until there are 6 players remaining and another Ztar appears to pick up the game's tempo. The last one standing wins. Paint Rollers In '''Paint Rollers players leave a trail of colored paint when they move. The goal is to drive a cricle around opponents can capture them in the painted circle. If a player is captured, then they are eliminated and can do everything they could including eliminating more players but they cannot gain any higher or lose thier position. The last player standing wins. Special Races Team Race Balloon Race Feul Race Cannon Race Paint Race Characters There are 20 pairs which is 10 more pairs from the original for a total of 40 characters, the player starts off with 12 pairs and the other 8 pairs are unlocked. Deafalt Unlockable Alternate Costumes Default Unlockable Unlockable Chemistry Defualt Unlockable Karts Starting Unlockable Charms Ingrediants Charms Tricks Items There are 8 normal items, 32 fused items and 20 special items making for a total of 50 items. Normal Fused Hungry Lumas Nitro Courses Retro Courses Battle Courses Missions There are 40 race courses each with a defualt and secondary mission making for 80 collectible Time Gears. But, there are also 10 Star Hungry Lumas one hidden in each level which can transform into battle courses with only one mission for another 10 time gears. Finally, there are 9 boss battles making for 99 Time Gears. And once 99 Time Gears have been collected, the player can unlock the last level, which features the final boss as well as the last and 100th Time Gear. If all 100 Time Gears are collected, the player unlocks... Trivia *Boom Boom and Pom Pom's alternate costumes heavily resemble Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope Von Scheetz from the movie Wreck-It Ralph. *Two courses from the Donkey Kong Racing series appear as Retro Courses, namely Ancient Lake and Star City from Diddy Kong Racing and it's remake. *Toad and Toadette's karts, the Fungas Shroom and the Mycro Shroom are based off of the fact that scientists are developing mushroom powered vehilcles. Toad's kart, the Fungas Shroom is a pun on Fungus and Gasoline while Toadette's Mycro Shroom is a pun on myco which means mushroom and micro, being based on a poision mushroom which makes Mario ,iniscule. Gallery Logos Artwork YoshiandBirdoMKF.png|Yoshi and Birdo's artwork Yoshi'sKartMKF.png|Yoshi's kart Birdo'sKartMKF.png|Birdo's kart PolicePiantaMKF.png|Pianta's alternate costume NinthHour.png|The Ninth Hour item as well as the 9 featured on the PAL logo. Mode Logos BalloonBattleMKF.png|Balloon Battle logo CoinCollectorsMKF.png|Coin Collectors logo ZtarCurseMKF.png|Ztar Curse logo Course Logos Arena Logos Concept Art Category:Fan Games Category:Games Category:Mario Category:Mario Games Category:Mario Kart Games